End of the road for Rover badge

THE Rover name, once one of the most respected car marques, will be abandoned by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation if it presses ahead with plans to build the collapsed carmaker's models in China.

The Chinese are expected to develop the Rover 75 under a new name, industry sources have indicated. SAIC believes the brand has been devalued.

It can save marketing costs by promoting its own badged car, even though it is in essence a Rover 75. If SAIC had wanted to use Rover, it would have been forced to buy the name from BMW.

Financial Mail on Sunday revealed this month that SAIC, which has bought the design of the Rover 75 and 25 and K-series engine for £67m, would make the cars in Shanghai. It has been reported that the Chinese will bid for Powertrain, the British group's engine plant.

Meanwhile, John Towers, head of Phoenix Venture Holdings, which bought Rover five years ago for £10, has been lambasted by the Chinese for raising 'false hopes' among Rover workers by insisting there is still a chance of a deal with SAIC.

Reports that there could be a bid for the UK group from Iran have been denied. Alireza Nabaee, a spokesman for SAIPA, Iran's second largest carmaker, said: 'SAIPA is not negotiating to buy Rover. The ministry of industries and mines may be talking to purchase parts of that company's production line and know-how.'

Iranian news agencies had quoted a ministry official as saying SAIPA and Iran Khodro, the Middle East's biggest carmaker, were considering taking MG Rover over.